Supreme Court Cases Quiz

Miranda v. Arizona was a 5–4 decision made in 1966. The Court held that statements made in response to police interrogation are admissible at trial only if the prosecution: can show that the defendant was informed of the right to consult with an attorney before, and during the questioning, and was also informed of the right against self-incrimination. For the statements to be admissible, the defendant must have learned, understood, and voluntarily waived these rights.

Griswold v. Connecticut was a 7–2 decision issued in 1965. The Court invoked a right to marital privacy in order to overturn a Connecticut law that prohibited contraceptives. While the Bill of Rights doesn't explicitly mention privacy, the Court held that this right could be found in the “penumbras” and “emanations” of other constitutional protections. Later decisions by the Court, including Roe v. Wade, extended these principles of privacy.

The 1968 Lemon v. Kurtzman ruling regarded the uncertain constitutionality of Pennsylvania's Nonpublic Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which allowed the Superintendent of Public Schools to reimburse private schools for the salaries of teachers in these schools (most of which were Catholic schools). In an 8–1 ruling, the Supreme Court found this Act to be an unconstitutional violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

Loving v. Virginia was decided in 1967 with a unanimous ruling. The Supreme Court held that Virginia's anti-miscegenation statute, which outlawed interracial marriage, violated both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

New York Times v. Sullivan was a landmark freedom of the press case from 1964. The Southern states had taken many libel actions against news organizations over critical coverage of civil rights issues. This case established the actual malice standard which has to be met for news stories about public officials to be considered as defamation and libel. Actual malice means that the publisher knew that the statement was false, or acted in reckless disregard of its truth or falsity.

Mapp v. Ohio was decided in 1961 in a 6–3 ruling. Based on the exclusionary rule, the evidence obtained in violation of Mapp’s rights could not be used in a federal prosecution. In this case, the Court held that the exclusionary rule, through a principle known as selective incorporation, also applies to the states. Selective incorporation interprets the Fourteenth Amendment to “incorporate” most portions of the Bill of Rights.

Gideon v. Wainwright was a unanimous ruling issued in 1963. The Court held that the assistance of counsel is: a fundamental right under the Constitution, binding on the states, and essential for a fair trial and due process of law.

Korematsu v. United States was a 6–3 ruling issued in 1944. The Court held that the need to protect against espionage outweighed the individual rights of Americans of Japanese descent.

Obergefell v. Hodges was decided in 2015 by a 5–4 ruling. The Court held that the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment require states to license marriages between two people of the same sex, and to recognize same-sex marriages that were licensed in other states.

Kelo v. City of New London was decided in 2005 in a 5–4 ruling. The Supreme Court held that the benefits that a community accrues from economic growth, including job creation, increased tax revenues, etc., make private redevelopment an allowable "public use" as per the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

In 1816 Congress chartered the Second Bank of the United States, and in 1818 Maryland passed legislation to impose taxes on this bank. McCulloch v. Maryland was decided unanimously by the Court in 1819, and established two important principles in constitutional law:

(1) The Constitution grants implied powers to Congress for implementing the Constitution's express powers. These implied powers are an integral component of a functional national government. As a result, Congress has the power to establish a bank as an instrument of the government in order to facilitate the collection and disbursement of revenue.

(2) Federal laws have supremacy over state laws; consequently, Maryland did not have the power to interfere with a federal bank by taxing it.

Brown v. Board of Education was a unanimous ruling issued in 1954. It overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, which had upheld state segregation laws for public facilities under the “separate but equal” doctrine. The Brown v. Board decision concluded that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” and the Court held that segregation of students in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

United States v. Nixon was a 1974 decision that resulted in an 8–0 ruling against President Richard Nixon. Nixon was attempting to use executive privilege to withhold evidence during the Watergate scandal. The Court held that no person is above the law and that executive privilege cannot be used to withhold evidence that is demonstrably relevant in a criminal trial.

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was a 6–3 decision issued in 2022. The majority ruled that “procuring an abortion is not a fundamental constitutional right because such a right has no basis in the Constitution’s text or in our Nation’s history.” This decision overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the power to regulate abortion to the states.

Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard was a 6–3 decision in 2023. The Court ruled that race-based affirmative programs for admission to institutions of higher education violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Citizens United v. FEC was a 5–4 ruling issued in 2010. The dispute involved a conservative non-profit corporation interested in broadcasting a film critical of Hillary Clinton. Doing so violated the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which prohibited such corporate or union expenditures. The Court held that, “If the First Amendment has any force, it prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply engaging in political speech.” The ruling enabled unlimited election spending by corporations and by groups known as super PACs.

Schenck v. United States was a case concerning the enforcement of the Espionage Act of 1917 during World War I. Schenck was distributing leaflets that urged men to boycott the draft. The Court held that criticism of the draft was not protected by the First Amendment, because it created a “clear and present danger” to the U.S. armed forces during a state of war. This case helped to define the modern understanding of the First Amendment, and the opinion included the well know statement that, “The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic.”

United States v. Jones was a 9–0 decision issued in 2012. The Court ruled the installation of a GPS tracking device, without a search warrant, was an unreasonable search and seizure. Therefore, this type of search violates the Fourth Amendment protections of trespass on a person’s property.

In the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, the Court ruled 7–2 that abortion is a fundamental right under the United States Constitution. The Court held that state laws criminalizing abortion violate a right to privacy that is implied by the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. This ruling was overturned in 2022.

Roth v. United States was a 6–3 ruling made in 1957. The Court reaffirmed that obscenity was not protected by the First Amendment and went on to define obscenity more strictly, working from the metric of the “average person, applying contemporary community standards.”

Engel v. Vitale was a 6–1 ruling issued in 1962. The Supreme Court ruled that government-written prayers could not be recited in public schools because such prayers violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The Court held that the promotion of a religion violates the First Amendment, even if the promotion is not coercive.

Marbury v. Madison was a unanimous decision issued by the Supreme Court in 1803. The Court held that Congress cannot pass laws that oppose declarations in the Constitution. It also decided that it is the role of the judicial system to interpret the scope of the Constitution. This established the principle of judicial review.

Gibbons v. Ogden was an 1824 case regarding the regulation of steamboat navigation in New York. The Court ruled that under Article I’s Commerce Clause, Congress has the power to regulate any aspect of commerce that crosses state lines, including modes of transportation. It furthermore declared that such regulation preempts conflicting regulation by the states. Since Gibbons, the Commerce Clause has provided the basis for sweeping congressional power over a multitude of national issues.

Plessy v. Ferguson was decided in 1896 in a 7–1 ruling, with only Justice John Marshall Harlan dissenting. The ruling legitimized state laws that established racial segregation in the South, and paved the way for further segregation laws. Achievements from the Reconstruction Era were lost with the "separate but equal" doctrine. This ruling was overturned in 1954.

Dred Scott was a slave who attempted to sue for his freedom. Dred Scott v. Sandford was a 7–2 ruling issued in 1857. The Court held that people of African descent lacked citizenship according to the Constitution, so Scott did not have standing to file his suit. This ruling overturned the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had restricted slavery to certain U.S. territories. The Dred Scott ruling was later voided by the 13th and 14th Amendments.

NFIB v. Sebelius was a 5–4 decision issued in 2012. The Court upheld Congress's power to enact most provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The Court decided that the financial penalty for not obtaining health insurance may reasonably be characterized as a tax. Accordingly, this individual mandate was held to be a constitutional exercise of Congress's power to tax.

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District was a 7–2 decision issued in 1969. The Tinkers were public school students who wore black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War. School policy disallowed such apparel, but the Supreme Court overturned this policy. The Court held that the First Amendment applies to public schools, and that if the school administration wishes to suppress free speech, they must demonstrate that the speech in question will “materially and substantially interfere” with the operation of the school.

George Reynolds was a member of the LDS Church and who, after marrying his second wife while still married to his first wife, was charged with bigamy as per the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act. In the unanimous 1878 Reynolds v. United States ruling, the Supreme Court held that religious duty is not a defense for criminal indictment.

District of Columbia v. Heller was a 5–4 decision in 2007. The Court ruled a ban in Washington D.C., on possessing a functioning handgun in the home be overturned. The Court ruled the ban on a functioning handgun in the home amounted to a violation of the Second Amendment.

Texas v. Johnson was a 5–4 ruling issued in 1989. The Court held that Johnson's burning of the flag constituted expressive conduct and permitted him to invoke the First Amendment in defense. This decision invalidated the laws against desecrating the American flag that were in place in 48 of the 50 states.